An agreement reached Saturday night on the wording of a historic United Nations treaty to protect marine biodiversity could mark the end of the unregulated exploitation of the ocean, an increasingly urgent concern as climate impacts multiply.
The ocean supplies half the planet’s oxygen, absorbs more than a third of carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and feeds billions of people. If ratified, the U.N. high seas biodiversity treaty could build in new hurdles for corporations operating on the high seas — defined as the 60% of the ocean beyond any nation’s jurisdiction — including for those companies proposing to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean.
“I think that the end of the Wild West may be in sight, with real commitment to implement this treaty,” said Susanna Fuller, a member of the steering committee of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 environmental groups. “We need to get it up and running soon to deal with those things,” Fuller said, referring specifically to CO2 removal schemes.
